With 21 wickets in the series, Pat Cummins showed exactly why he was the current best Test bowler in the world ©Getty
Pat Cummins. Josh Hazlewood. Mitchell Starc. Nathan Lyon.
Jasprit Bumrah. Mohammed Shami. Umesh Yadav. R Ashwin.
The two bowling attacks lined up against each other ahead of the first Test in Adelaide promised to be a showdown of two of the finest contemporary bowling attacks. While it did more than live up to the expectation, the personnel had undergone a complete change for the visitors by the time touring party reached Gabba.
Despite the series featuring some of the finest modern-day batsmen, the tracks laid out offered assistance for bowlers in three of the fours Test, except for the typically flat wicket in Sydney, which made the going slightly easy for the batsmen. In the 27 series played in Australia this century (3+ Tests), it was the first instance of both teams averaging under 30. It was a series where bowlers called the shots and batsmen had to grind out every run possible.
Batting comparison
| Team | Inngs | Runs | Avg | SR | 100s/50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 77 | 1914 | 28.14 | 48.56 | 2/9 |
| India | 75 | 1816 | 28.82 | 43.89 | 1/12 |
Smith kept quiet, for most part
One of the big challenges for Indian bowlers was to restrict Steve Smith who has had a terrific record against India coming to the series. Smith did have a quiet home summer by his standards last time around against Pakistan and New Zealand, but he looked to be in ominous touch coming into the series after starting off this home summer with two blistering ODI hundreds in Sydney.
Indian bowled a wicket-to-wicket line with ring fielders on the leg side cutting down Smith's on-side shot play. In the first two Tests, Smith looked tied down considerably by Ashwin and Bumrah as they persisted with the straighter lines. Ashwin challenged Smith's outside (1st innings, Adelaide) and inside edge (1st innings, MCG) while Bumrah knocked his leg stump in the second innings of the MCG Test - it was the first time an off-spinner dismissed him twice in a home series and first time he was bowled down the leg side in his career.
Smith conceded he let a spinner decide a spinner call the shots
